To pursue in a manner to injure, grieve, or afflict; to beset with cruelty or malignity; to harass; especially, to afflict, harass, punish, or put to death for adherence to a particular religious creed or mode of worship
Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. -Matt. v. 44.
If you say that someone is persecuting you, you mean that they are deliberately making your life difficult. He said his first wife persecuted him with her unreasonable demands
To pursue in a manner to injure, grieve, or afflict; to beset with cruelty or malignity; to harass; especially, to afflict, harass, punish, or put to death, for adherence to a particular religious creed or mode of worship
If someone is persecuted, they are treated cruelly and unfairly, often because of their race or beliefs. Mr Weaver and his family have been persecuted by the authorities for their beliefs They began by brutally persecuting the Catholic Church. a persecuted minority